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| No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 3 2010, 12:19 PM (197 Views) | |
| picollo no. | Jun 3 2010, 12:19 PM Post #1 |
Screw the rules I'm Yuri Lowell
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No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle The first No More Heroes game on Wii was a fun and heavily amusing if extremely flawed offer by the wacky mind of Suda 51 the guy who brought us Killer 7. The basic premise of NMH was to fight your way through the leader boards taking on a series of delightfully deranged bosses, quite fairly thought of as the most memorable boss characters ever and to top it of the game had an awesome and witty script and story. But for everything great about the game it was let down by serious flaws such as; a glitchy hub-world devoid of anything to do and having to do silly side jobs to pay for the next level. Because of this NMH fell short of being great, but thankfully 2 years later NMH 2 has arrived and has righted many of the wrongs of the first game. The game is set 3 years on from the first game, the town on Santa Destroy has been brought out by the corporate behemoth Pizza Batt and Travis Touchdown wants revenge for the murder of his friend. So Travis once again takes up his beam katana and challenges the UAA leader board taking out even more crazy and deranged foes. The game follows the same basic formula as the first; you take out waves of minions before challenging the boss characters, except now there are some new features such as dual wielding beam katanas and an abstract move where you turn into a tiger. The fighting system is the same as before; press A to slash your sword, Z to block, B trigger to punch and 1 allows you to recharge your sword by jerking it off in a very gentlemanly fashion. It’s the same old, however the camera seems to be a bit off in this game, sometimes getting caught behind corners making fights a pain at times (particularly the rank 24 boss fight), which wasn’t really the case in the first game. It isn’t game breaking, but it’s noticeable and proper camera control would really help. But slicing enemies in half is still incredibly satisfying. However the real improvements are outside the fighting. Gone is the tedious and empty sandbox world of Santa Destroy and is now replaced by a smooth map interface where you select where you’d like to go and are taken there automatically instead of messing around with that awkward motorbike from the first game. It may seem like a downgrade, but NMH isn’t about overworld exploring and it really didn’t add anything to the game. In this instance less is definitely more. To top it off you no longer need to pay for ranked matches. Instead if you wish you can get right into the action to progress the wonderfully scripted story which this game is truly about. Again it shows how the removal of the little tedious things can make an experience so much more enjoyable. Where the game really shines though is in the side job minigames. In the first game these ranged from bizarre to just stupid, however job and gym sessions now play as awesome 8 bit games exactly like you’d find on a NES, with happy chirpy tunes and all (with extra fork in the eye). My personal favourite being the coconut grabber game a sidescroller where you collect coconuts whilst racing to the end of the level. They are infinitely more fun and playable and a great throwback to the good ol’ days, which NMH often celebrates through its 8-bit leader board screens and pixelated health bar. It just adds so much more character and sets it apart from anything else in the market, making it not only a game, but also an experience. It’s surprising how small a thing makes for a much better game. Though NMH2 is indeed superior to its predecessor, it just doesn’t have the same charm or impact. The bosses are as demented and bonkers as ever (seriously one has you fight in giant animé style mechas), the script is as witty, hilarious and eager to break the fourth wall as before, the violence and action is off the wall and bloody (particularly for the UK version thanks to the inclusion of gore violence) and there are many more obscure Otaku references. The problem is it was all in the first game, except 2 years ago NMH had a fresh appeal to it. Each boss felt unique and extremely colourful. There is no difference this time, but they just don’t come across as edgy. Not to mention more recent games such as Madworld and House of the Dead Overkill pushed the boundaries even further. Likewise it’s hard to appreciate the script when you feel like you’ve already heard it before. The games combat feels a lot less refined and there was one infuriatingly awkward section where you played as secondary character Shinobu which threw in weak quasi-platforming sections. However despite this there is still much to love about the game. It may not feel as fresh, but is still as slick and stylish as anything out there and has an awesome soundtrack and cool graphics (there are frame rate issues however). The humour is still outrageous and the story has a much darker edge to it and the fighting is still fun despite the dodgy camera and you’ll play for hours at a time to see what the next boss will be like. Plus the inclusion of 8-bit minigames was genius; Suda 51 is truly a visionary when it comes to game design and style. So what do we have? Something flawed, but also very enjoyable with great presentation and is not like anything else out there and is superior to the original. It isn’t a very long experience but for £30 you could do a lot worse. 85% |
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| Blaze | Jun 3 2010, 05:15 PM Post #2 |
 
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I never played the first game, so I'm not too sure what its like. But your review makes it sound worth it, so I'll probably borrow the first one off of someone beforehand to try it out. ^_^ |
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| Takoa | Jun 3 2010, 05:33 PM Post #3 |
Merry
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It no longer has the stupid hub area and having to do the crappy missions to get to the next main area? That's good. Those were the reasons I stopped playing and ended up forgetting to finish playing the first one. |
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| picollo no. | Jun 3 2010, 05:51 PM Post #4 |
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Screw the rules I'm Yuri Lowell
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@Blaze I'd advise you do, the game had its problems such as the boring hub world, but it's characters and humour were class. @Taky As I said most of the annoying things about the first game have been removed thankfully and ranked battles are now free so if you want all you need to do are the story missions :yay: Also the missions to earn money are great this time around :D I realise in my review I may have refered to the first game too often :| Just kind of hard not to comapre the two, so sorry to those of you who haven't palyed the first game :) Edited by picollo no., Jun 3 2010, 05:58 PM.
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| Takoa | Jun 3 2010, 05:59 PM Post #5 |
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Merry
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Maybe I'll try to finish the first and get the second then. ^_^ EDIT: That darn smiley again. :( Shoo, foul beast! Revert back to good ol' yellow! |
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| picollo no. | Jun 3 2010, 06:05 PM Post #6 |
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Screw the rules I'm Yuri Lowell
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I would if I were you Taky :) The ending is a hoot, though it does throw the references in quite heavy, but the semi-secret final battle is awesome :D I don't like the new smiley much either D: The blue just makes it look sad. |
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